Chuck Versus the Nemesis
|next= }} Chuck Versus the Nemesis is the tenth episode season one, which originally aired on November 26, 2007. Synopsis Just as Chuck begins to fall for Sarah, her deceased lover and Chuck's nemesis Bryce Larkin (Matthew Bomer) is discovered - alive. Bryce seeks Chuck's help to prove that he is not rogue, as he was forced to comply to a mysterious organization that were looking for the Intersect. Meanwhile, Morgan leads the charge to help the Buy More prep for the busiest shopping day of the year. Full Plot The episode opens to a heart monitor beeping. It is attached to Bryce Larkin, who is strapped to a hospital bed in an empty white room. As he wakes up, an orderly comes to tend to him. The camera moves back to show Sarah Walker and John Casey watching from an observation window. As Bryce drifts out of consciousness, he mumbles the word "Chuck". At the Buy More, Morgan tells Chuck that he is crazy because he broke up with Sarah. Morgan senses that something is wrong, however, and asks Chuck about it. Chuck doesn't want to talk about it, so Morgan goes to see Anna. Meanwhile, Chuck contemplates his breakup with Sarah; believing it to be a bad idea. He notices Anna and Morgan kissing, and mentions to Morgan that he finds that creepy (after Anna goes to help a customer). Morgan ignores this, and instead asks Chuck if Anna can come to his Thanksgiving dinner. Chuck tells him that is OK; but is confused when Morgan asks if Ellie Bartowski will be there. Morgan explains that Anna believes he has a crush on Ellie as well. Big Mike reappears, and warns the staff about Black Friday - the biggest shopping day of the year; and much to the dismay of the staff, explains that they need to come in on Thanksgiving for training. As Big Mike finishes, Sarah enters, and reveals to Chuck that Bryce is alive. In the next scene, Chuck, John and Sarah are watching an orderly try to question Bryce from the observation room; however Bryce refuses to talk. Sarah and Casey believe that he might talk to Chuck, because he has been asking for him. As Chuck prepares to go in, Casey warns him to be careful, because Bryce is a rogue, trained assassin. Chuck enters Bryce's room; but Bryce does not believe him to be the real Chuck Bartowski, and asks him to prove his identity. Chuck does so by speaking to him in Klingon. Upon hearing this, Bryce comments that his Klingon is rusty. Chuck tries inquiring why did he downloaded, destroy and sent the Intersect to him and how he is still alive. The for the latter, Bryce only cryptically says "they" did. He asks that Chuck lean in closer. But when he does, Bryce breaks out of his restraints, grabs Chuck, and holds a syringe to his neck. Sarah and Casey burst in, guns ready, but Bryce uses Chuck as a human shield, preventing them from firing. Though surprised that Sarah is here, Bryce asks Casey if he "cares to try again", but Chuck does not understand what he means. Bryce, still holding Chuck hostage, backs out of the room, down the hallway, and into an elevator. As the elevator is locked, he demands that Sarah tell him the access code or he'll kill Chuck. Reluctantly, Sarah complies. As soon as the doors close, he lets go of Chuck, dropping the serious face, thinking that Chuck knew he wasn't going to kill him. Frantically, Chuck demands to know what Bryce is trying to pull. Bryce ignores his question and asks back why Sarah is with him. Chuck quickly explains that she and Casey are protecting him. Suddenly, the elevator slows down to a stop. Bryce again holds Chuck hostage as the doors open. On the other side, a man is standing. Chuck flashes on the man, who talks briefly to Bryce about something named 'Fulcrum'. When they are done, Bryce and Chuck return to the elevator. Chuck asks him about Fulcrum and the man they just met, but Bryce avoids his questions but is more amazed that the Intersect is in his head. Suddenly, Bryce presses the emergency stop button, injects Chuck with the syringe, asks that he pass on a message to Sarah (It's hard to say goodbye) and escapes through the elevator hatch as Chuck passes out. Chuck regains consciousness as Sarah and Casey open the elevator and find him on the floor. The next day, at the Buy More, Morgan is shouting directions through a megaphone to the Buy More employees, training them for Black Friday. After teaching them how to do crowd control, he explains to them that they will use the word 'pineapple' to indicate a Very Bad Situation; such as an earthquake. Chuck gets a call from Ellie, asking him to leave so he can help with the groceries and Thanksgiving dinner. Much to Chuck's surprise, later that evening Casey appears at his house; explaining that Ellie invited him for dinner. When Ellie leaves the room, Chuck asks him if he really killed Bryce. Casey replies that he thought he did. Moments later, Chuck tells Ellie that Morgan is bringing someone to dinner (a real person, not imaginary). Ellie is surprised to hear this and quips that she is surprised that Morgan has a friend. Just then, Morgan and Anna ring the doorbell. Ellie and Chuck answer it. Anna brings a casserole, but is very cold towards Ellie. As Ellie, Captain Awesome, Morgan, Anna, Casey, Sarah and Chuck are eating dinner, Morgan complains that there are no marshmallows on his sweet potatoes. Anna declares that dinner is ruined, looking pointedly at Ellie. Chuck tries to defuse the situation by apologizing and going to get the marshmallows from his car. As Chuck goes to the car, he suddenly notices Bryce. Bryce apologizes for not being able to catch up with him the last time they met, and asks him what happened since then. Chuck reminds him that he was kicked out of Stanford because of Bryce. Bryce tells Chuck that he needs to talk to Sarah without Casey knowing; the man they met in the elevator works for an organization named Fulcrum that wants a copy of the intersect. Chuck enters the house again, carrying a bag of marshmallows. As Chuck prepares the sweet potatoes, Morgan tries Anna's casserole. It's burnt and very crunchy, but he pretends to enjoy it. He offers it to everyone else at the table; but they all turn it down. Captain Awesome starts a conversation about white-water rafting with Casey. Chuck, seizing the opportunity, discreetly tells Sarah that Bryce wants to speak with her in Chuck's room. Sarah, surprised, excuses herself. Once in Chuck's room, Sarah and Bryce talk. The conversation soon drifts to their previous relationship, and they share a kiss. Much to his horror, Chuck (who happens to pass by the door) sees this. Chuck, in shock, wanders back to the table. Awesome asks everyone to name something they are thankful for. When it is his turn, Chuck, who is still distracted by what he just saw going on his his room, states that he is thankful that Bryce is dead, and is not making out with Sarah in his room. Everyone, except Casey (who excuses himself to investigate), is shocked; and Morgan comments that Chuck's statement was very "dark". Casey enters Chuck's room, only to discover that Bryce is gone. Casey is annoyed, and chides Sarah. Meanwhile, Morgan moves on to the sweet potatoes. Anna becomes mad that Morgan enjoys Ellie's dish more than hers, and walks out; with a protesting Morgan following. Chuck also goes after them; leaving a bewildered Ellie and Captain Awesome. Outside, Chuck is trying to catch up with Anna and Morgan when Sarah appears. Before she can respond to his questions about her actions; Sarah notices someone in Casey's Apartment. They sneak in to discover Bryce. Chuck slightly panics, alerting Bryce, who turns around and brings up his gun. Sarah demands that he put the gun down. Bryce explains that he was recruited by Fulcrum, a splinter group inside the CIA, to steal the Intersect. Sarah naturally doesn't believe him, thinking that the CIA would've known. Bryce defends that Fulcrum knew who he was, his access codes and his record. When he realized that Fulcrum had sinister plans for the Intersect's data, he didn't know who to trust, the least of all Sarah. He needed a friend like Chuck who wasn't CIA, know anything about the Intersect, Fulcrum or Sandwall. Chuck flashes on the code-name of the Intersect, 'sand-wall'; and verifies that Bryce is telling the truth. Just then, Casey walks in, gun drawn. Despite Chuck and Sarah's protests, he shoots Bryce, who falls to the floor. Chuck immediately faints. Sarah, concerned for him, attempts to check on him only to find that he's wearing a bulletproof vest. When everyone settles down, Bryce explains that he stole the Intersect secrets and sent them to Chuck, when he ran into Casey, who shot him. The next thing he knows, Fulcrum brought him to a European clinic to revive him to make him divulge where the Intersect is. When he told them that it was inside him, they were trying their best to keep him alive. He wants to turn himself into the CIA so he can work against Fulcrum, but he needs to be sure it's real CIA agents and not Fulcrum operatives. Chuck volunteers to help, knowing that if he flashes on the agents, he can confirm if they are Fulcrum, if not, then Bryce is free and clear. Casey adds that they need a public place where the transfer can take place, with lots of witnesses; Chuck knows just the one. . Later, it is Black Friday at the Buy More and crowds are foaming at the mouth to get in the door. Big Mike says he's going into his office and doesn't want to be disturbed for any reason. The doors open and the Nerd Herd guides customers to the areas of the store they want to go, with Chuck and Anna doing a better job than Jeff and Lester who get so freaked out they hide under the counter. The meeting almost goes awry when Morgan runs into Bryce, but believing Bryce to be dead, he just tells him he looks like Chuck's friend from college who wrecked his life. Later Bryce apologizes to Chuck for insulting him the night before. He admits that he has only one friend, while Chuck has a home and store full of them. When the agents come by, Chuck does not flash on them, and Sarah goes to take him in. In the car Sarah and Bryce are talking about their past when their car is side-swiped by a van driven by a Fulcrum team. Back at the Buy More, Chuck is at the Nerd Herd desk when Tommy, the man who confronted Bryce on the elevator, comes up to Chuck and says he needs to get a very special computer called The Intersect, whom he deduced is actually Chuck. He remarks that if Chuck thinks that an entire crowd would protect him, that's where he is wrong. Already, his men have captured Sarah and Bryce, disarmed Casey, and that he's willing to kill everyone in the Buy More to carry out his mission. The Fulcrum team that captured Sarah and Bryce call in to say that they've captured them, only to have Sarah and Bryce get up and take them out. When Bryce doesn't see Tommy anywhere, he and Sarah both realize the Fulcrum is after Chuck. They take Fulcrum's van and speed back to the Buy More. Tommy is walking Chuck toward the exit when a panicked Jeff comes running up to him saying the registers are down and he can't get them working. Tommy warns Chuck that if he says more than one word he'll kill Jeff where he stands. Chuck looks at him and says "pineapple", the phrase indicating a store wide emergency requiring evacuation. Jeff runs and tells Morgan "pineapple." Morgan thinks he's messing around, but when Jeff says he was told it by Chuck, Morgan grabs the bullhorn and announces that the store needs to be evacuated. The shoppers start a stampede for the door, in which Morgan carries out a trapped Anna; Big Mike hears this and attempts to stop the customers from leaving, only to be carried outside by the crowd. The confusion allows Casey and Chuck to escape their captors and take cover in the Home Theater Room, where Casey unveils the arsenal he keeps in there, calls for an NSA team to get over there, and starts a shootout with Fulcrum. Sarah and Bryce arrive on the scene and begin taking Fulcrum agents out, Chuck is extremely impressed by how well they work together. However, when trying to get out of the Home Theater room, Chuck is taken hostage by Tommy who winds up in a standoff with Bryce and Sarah. Bryce asks Chuck a question in Klingon, when Chuck responds, Bryce tells him he's sorry and shoots Chuck in the chest. Casey then takes out Tommy as the NSA team begins to arrive. Sarah goes to check on Chuck, who apparently answered "Yes, I am wearing a vest." as he opens up his shirt to reveal the Kevlar. While Chuck comments on how it still hurts to get shot with a bulletproof vest, Morgan carries Anna to safety. Lester comments that this was rather goofy of Morgan but Anna tells him that he passed this test. But she has to scurry when an enraged Big Mike comes over to confront Morgan about evacuating the store on its biggest day. However Morgan is saved when a fireman/NSA agent tells Big Mike there was a gas leak and whoever evacuated the store may have saved a lot of lives. Big Mike walks off in exasperation as Morgan basks in the glow of vindication. After giving his report to General Beckman, Bryce emerges from the Home Theater Room wearing a tuxedo. He tells Chuck that he is going deep undercover to stop Fulcrum and for all intent and purposes, he is to remain dead. When Chuck asks him where he's going, Bryce tells him that he can't tell him. He then turns to Sarah and says "we'll always have Omaha." Later that evening at Casa Bartowski, Chuck goes over to Casey's apartment and asks what was meant by that statement. Casey says it was probably a meeting point, and that if Sarah wants to go with Bryce she has to do so tonight. But not to worry, if Sarah leaves they'll get him a new girl. Back at her hotel Sarah is looking very conflicted. Her room phone rings, and it is Bryce on the other end. She goes to pick it up when her iPhone starts ringing, and Chuck's picture and number appear on the screen. As two men who care about her wait, she's unable to decide which one to pick up. Quotes Bryce: Who are you? Chuck: Hey, buddy, it's me, Chuck. Bryce: [Bryce looks at him] I don't believe you. What have you done with the real Chuck? Chuck: I'd like to come out now, please. Casey: [sarcastically to Sarah] Real born interrogator. Chuck Bartowski: Great. Well, unless we're in the twilight zone, and I'm some kind of clone, the answer to your question is, 'yes' I am the real Chuck. Bryce: Prove it. [says something in Klingon] Chuck: Come on they're people watching. Bryce: Do it. [Chuck responds in Klingon] John: What the hell? Bryce: Your Klingon's a bit rusty. Chuck: Yeah, I've been kinda busy ever since I got your e-mail. Bryce: Did you open it? Chuck: Yeah. Bryce: Your computer? Chuck: Destroyed. Bryce: So your the only one? Chuck: I don't get it Bryce, why did you do it? Why did you send it to me? Why did you blow up the computer? And, last but not least, how the hell are you still alive? Music * Daniel May - “On Sale Now” * Band Of Horses - “No One’s Gonna Love You” * Pop Levi - “Sugar Assault Me Now” Trivia * In an interview with the show's producers, it is revealed that Mark Christopher Lawrence who plays Big Mike, had accidentally fallen off the counters in the Buy More evacuation scene. * At the hotel, when Sarah is looking at the two phones ringing her, it represents the old and the new. On the old phone is Bryce and on the new phone is Chuck. "Out with the old and in with the new!" Category:Season 1 Television Series Episodes Category:Bryce Larkin